http://www.pearson.com/news/2013/july/pearson-2013-half-year-results.html?article=true Ebooks accounted for 33 percent of Penguin’s U.S. revenue in the first half of 2013, parent company Pearson reported Friday, up…

The Department of Justice’s trial against Apple kicked off in New York Monday. The DOJ alleges that Apple conspired with publishers to set ebook prices, while Apple argues that there was no conspiracy and that Apple was operating the way it normally does with content providers.

Google is continuing its effort to punish sites that manipulate outside links in order to increase their search visibility. The move means websites should be careful that their SEO strategies doesn’t lead to a penalty.

Cosmopolitan and Harlequin are launching a line of ebooks called Cosmo Red Hot Reads this summer. Sylvia Day, who originally self-published the bestselling Bared to You, has signed a seven-figure deal to write the first two Red Hot Reads.

Amazon won a court ruling last week that restrict Apple’s access to its executives and documents. Filings from the case also show that senior Amazon executives are poised to testify for the government in its price-fixing case against Apple.

Amazon released its list of the bestselling books of 2012 on Friday morning. The list is a great summary of one of the key themes in book publishing in 2012: Self-published authors and traditional publishers need each other.

The European Commission has officially reached a settlement with Apple and four publishers on ebook pricing. The terms of the settlement mirror those in the U.S., but will primarily affect only the U.K. since other European countries have fixed price laws for books.

Amazon’s “Breakthrough Novel Award,” now in its sixth year, is being revamped for 2013: Rather than being published by big-six publisher Penguin and getting a $15,000 advance, the winner will get a contract with Amazon Publishing and a $50,000 advance.

Simon & Schuster hopes to get a piece of the rapidly growing self-publishing market in its new partnership with Author Solutions. The companies are launching a self-publishing service, Archway, that will give authors options like a “concierge” and access to a speakers’ bureau.

Less than a year after ending its relationship with digital library distributor OverDrive, Penguin is expanding ebook library lending in new partnerships with Baker & Taylor and 3M. But neither distributor supports Kindle e-readers.

Reuters cites two unidentified sources who says that the European Commission has accepted Apple and four publishers’ proposed ebook pricing settlement. As we previously reported, the EU settlement includes Apple, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Macmillan parent company Holtzbrinck. Macmillan and Apple are not settling in the U.S.

In response to a report that publishers Penguin and Random House are merging, Penguin parent company Pearson said that the two companies are indeed discussing a merger but “there is no certainty that the discussions will lead to a transaction.”

New statistics from Bowker show that the self-publishing industry in the United States is growing rapidly, with four companies dominating the space. Amazon’s CreateSpace accounts for the most self-published print books, while Smashwords accounts for the most ebooks.

Pearson may be a giant of corporate publishing. But now it is throwing DK’s rich encyclopedic image bank and dozens of classic novels in with the content it wants developers to re-use in their own apps.

Penguin is working with digital distributor 3M to make ebooks available to some libraries again — first through a previously announced pilot program with the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries, and then through about 70 other libraries nationwide by the end of the year.

With the ebook pricing settlement recently approved, and the Department of Justice’s trial against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin set to begin next June, Apple has subpoenaed Amazon in a Washington State court.

In celebration of what would have been Roald Dahl’s 96th birthday, eight of his children’s books, including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach,” are available as ebooks in the U.S. for the first time. (Still no digital “Matilda” or “BFG,” though.)

This weekly feature examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Flappers, chaperones and the power of the Kindle Daily Deal.

Book publisher Penguin is embracing self-publishing with its acquisition of Author Solutions for $116 million. The acquisition lets Penguin “gain skills in customer acquisition and data analytics that will be vital to our future,” said Penguin CEO John Makinson in a statement.

Women’s online writing network She Writes, which has about 20,000 members including well-known authors like Roxana Robinson and Francine Prose, is now a book publisher, too. The company has launched She Writes Press, which it calls a hybrid between self-publishing and traditional publishing models.

Penguin and Macmillan, the two publishers fighting the Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing lawsuit in court, have both filed responses to the DOJ suit. Macmillan’s response is shorter and more fiery; Penguin’s is longer, with more colorful details and explainers.

New York, the District of Columbia and fifteen other states have joined the e-book pricing class action suit against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin, for a total of 31. The amended complaint reveals details that were previously redacted, including an e-mail from Steve Jobs.

When the Ian Fleming estate gave up the digital rights to the James Bond backlist last month, Random House UK’s Vintage grabbed the English-language print and e-book rights everywhere outside the U.S. and Canada. Well, guess who’s getting those North American digital rights? Amazon.